Let’s play again – Forest of Doom, Part 1

After the months-long “thing” that was moving and playing Ronin 47, I’m finally catching some breath. I could use something easy and familiar for a moment, so let’s use that breath to blow the dust off of… Forest of Doom! Yeah, all the way back to Fighting Fantasy number 3 and the year 1983.

The story: I’m a wandering barbarian type, eating rabbit that I hunted (manly!) and sleeping under a sheepskin blanket by a hand-made fire (manly and cozy!). Then a dwarf stumbles into my little camp in the night. He’s shot with crossbow bolts, and as he died he begs me to find a hammer and return it to the town of Stonebridge. What’s so important about a hammer, that a whole town of dwarfs doesn’t have a second one? He also begs me to take his money. No, really, he said that his kids don’t need it and I could have it. Yes, really.

So, what sort of barbarian adventurer type am I? I roll: 7 Skill, 20 Stamina, and 12 Luck. Huh.

It’s too bad the guy died at my campsite and not, I dunno, at the campsite of someone actually competent. How did I have an adventuring career with a Skill of 7? How did I catch this rabbit that I was eating? Sorry, I gotta admit the truth – this rabbit was bought at market, and I got the orc-head trophy at a gift shop in Fang. Still, I am as brave as I am clumsy, and I’m kind of riding a high from finding a lost coin purse with 30 gold in it. So were gonna play this out. This short, tragic adventure.

So, turn to page 1. I arrive at the tower of Yaztromo, a wizard selling magic trinkets that can get me out of a variety of scrapes and troubles. And here, I have to say that this was my favorite mechanic of Forest of Doom, and in fact of Fighting Fantasy as a whole. I love that you can buy solutions, save up your gold, and then if you get to the end, can come back and try again. I don’t think any other FF book did that ever again, and that’s really too bad.

Anyway, I blow the entire 30 gold on a variety of stuff. I don’t remember at all what’s in the forest, so I grab one of just about everything. As I’m grabbing stuff off the shelves like a kid in a candy store, Yaztromo tells me that the hammer was broken into two pieces and is being held by two goblins. Great. But also, he tells me that dwarfs will pay well, because the hammer is the only thing that gets them aroused. Ooohkay well, not gonna judge. And with visions of aroused dwarfs and a fistful of gold (larger than the fistful I just gave away, I hope) I step into the woods.

To be continued…

(sorry for the teaser; I’m kind of sick and thought I had more in me today)